


Council of the Virtuous

by stickynote_chan



Series: The Councils [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child!Harry is adorable, Dimension Travel, Fifth Year Harry Potter, Gen, General Harry Potter, Master of Death (Harry Potter), Master of Death Harry Potter, Politician Harry Potter, Professor Harry Potter, Seventh Year Harry Potter, okay he's not really but its easier to say that for now, some of the other harrys not so much, this is a clusterdump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19716088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stickynote_chan/pseuds/stickynote_chan
Summary: “You don't have to call me sir- just call me-” he looked around, “- Harry?”“I think we should call ourselves something other than Harry,” Harry said, looking at himself. All seven of them.In which Seven Harry Potters meet.





	1. the Abyss stares back

**** “What the fuck,” Harry said.

“Oh,  _ please _ ,” Harry scoffed, “as if you’re actually bloody surprised anymore.”

“Shush,” Harry said to the two of them and they turned to him, ready to bite back with all their teenage angst, before they saw his smile and stopped. Harry pointed down. “The little one is listening.”

Harry looked up at them and clutched at the one that had just spoken who only patted his head. The trembling barely stopped.

“Hey,” said Harry, older and more understanding, and scratched his messy hair. “Sorry about that.”

Harry stared wide eyed up at Harry.

“Its okay,” he whispered.

Harry stared at the smallest one until he sighed.

He crouched down, “Sorry. Don't- uh, speak bad words.”

Harry nodded shyly, “Yes, sir.”

Harry grimaced. “You don't have to call me sir- just call me-” he looked around, “- Harry?”

“I think we should call ourselves something other than Harry,” Harry said, looking at himself. All seven of them. “It's a bit too confusing to even bloo-  _ think _ right now.”

“Good idea, any clues though?” Harry asked.

"We could call ourselves by our professions," Harry offered. "I was the Minister," he looked around, "or rather  _ was _ , back in my dimension."

"I'm a Defense Professor," Defense Professor Harry said, brightening with the idea.

The two teenagers coughed.

"I don't think I'm quite old enough to get a job," Harry said and then looked at the only other teenager in the group. "Unless you want to call me Seventh Year and him Fifth Year."

Harry frowned back. "Presumptuous much?"

"Am I wrong?" Seventh Year Harry said back.

When Fifth Year Harry only scowled mutinously, Seventh Year Harry smiled.

He then looked down at the child. "He’ll have some problems too."

The smallest Harry stared up at them and wobbled his lips between his teeth. His hands were desperately digging into his oversized shirt.

Minister Harry took one of those hands into his own, careful to not injure, and the child was stilled by the action. He snapped his eyes shut, expecting pain, but nothing happened and he cautiously looked up again. The Minister only patiently held his hand and Harry cautiously returned the hold.

Minister Harry hummed and, with a graceful nod, said to the rest of the room, "I retract my proposal then. Nevertheless, we must still figure a way to 'name' ourselves."

Defense Professor Harry, hand clasped around a weathered book, raised it and his hand. “I’ve recently been reading around lately, and, seeing how there are seven of us, how about the Seven Traits of Man?"

"Catholicism?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Christianity actually," Fifth Year Harry muttered, much to the surprise of most.

Minister Harry grimaced, "Not that that's any better."

"Merlin, no," Fifth Year Harry agreed, grimace prominent on his teenage face. "Calling someone Envy? Urgh, I feel like vomiting just thinking about that rubbish."

Minister Harry schooled his face into passive agreement. The ones old enough didn't trust it. "Indeed."

"What about the Seven Virtues then?" Harry suggested.

They thought for a moment.

“Good enough,” Harry nodded and they all shrugged in agreement. “What were they?”

“Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility, Temperance, Charity, and Chastity,” Defense Professor Harry listed with his fingers. “I'd personally prefer Chastity. As a teacher, 'education, self-betterment and achieving purity of thought’ kinda fits me a bit, eh?”

“Diligence then, I’m Fate’s Bi- punching bag and I’m always _ 'diligently' _ at the wrong time, wrong place,” Diligence spat out because teenage angst.

“Humility,” Seventh Year Harry, Humility, said. “Anything other than Pride. God, no.’

“I’ll take Patience then,” Patience said with bright green eyes. He looked down. “What of you, little one?”

“Umm,” Harry said, feeling confused. “Umm, Kindness? I-I only know that one.”

Patience smiled, it was kinder than the one he had given to Humility and Diligence. “That’s perfect.”

“I’d like to choose Temperance please,” Temperance, who had not spoken until that point, said, standing ramrod straight, hands behind his back.

The last Harry simply nodded at the name decided upon to him, “I suppose I'm Charity then.”

“Brilliant," said Chastity who tucked the book underneath his armpit and clapped his hands together. “Now what in the world happened and does anyone have any ideas whatsoever?”

All of them shrugged while Kindness shook his head.

What a kid, the rest thought.

“I think we should establish where we are?” Temperance suggested, looking around the room.

“You're in my house on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” Charity answered as the others looked around. “You can go explore if you'd like, cast a diagnostic before you touch anything though. Quite a few dark beginnings in this clutter." He swept a glance around the room. "Tea? And then discussions?”

A few muttered, “Yes, please,” but others had already started moving off.

They would always be adventurous, it would seem, no matter the dimension or universe.

Charity waved them off to dig into whatever they fancied in his house and went to get tea in the adjoining kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


	2. sunshine streamed Silently

While everyone had wandered away, Harry, or rather Kindness as he understood his name was now (it was much better than  _ freak _ or  _ boy _ , he thought), stood still, shuffling his feet, and stared at the room at large.

He assumed he was in the living room because it was much like the size of the Dursley’s living room. It was a little smaller, maybe, although that impression may have been caused more by the clutter. And such clutter there was!

Towers of books and trunks were stacked onto the ground and formed little streets for one to navigate as they crossed the room. Between those streets and sometimes atop of those towers laid objects of peculiar origins. Such strange things they were! Kindness likened these objects, large and small, as the landmarks for one to admire as they wandered around.

A crown! A skeleton! A gramophone!

In front of him was a pretty silver birdcage though without a bird in it and he was charmed enough to reach out to touch before the remembrance of Charity’s warning stopped him. He snatched his hand back to instead admire the rest of the room.

A beautiful jingle twinkled like spring shower and he sought out where it came from. He looked up and gaped at the glittering jewels and starry night painted on the circular ceiling. The jingle came from the assortment of windchimes that hung from the ceiling. Each with beautiful feathers and glittering crystal. They swayed gently, twinkling notes of delicacy, seemingly dancing to their own accord for Kindness couldn't feel the slightest of breezes that may be pushing them to sing.

Something wooden creaked with a long, strung-out groan and Kindness looked around to see where it had come from.

Temperance had apparently left through the now open door and Kindness approached the doorway with curiosity. He was surprised to see a land of towering trees and untamed grass very unlike the clean streets and rigid pavements of Private Drive and Little Whinging. Wildflowers of every colour bloomed with bees and butterflies lazily fluttering around. From the doorway there lead a crooked little pathway of bricks which eventually ended in an equally crooked stairway to somewhere Kindness couldn’t see from inside the house. Temperance had already disappeared down there, he assumed.

However, he hesitated to leave the safety of inside, no matter how pretty the outside was, and, instead, turned back to look around.

Diligence drew his attention next with his loud  _ clangs _ and  _ thumps  _ and  _ thuds _ as the teenager unpacked a large, red trunk with worn, gold accents, digging into the unseen contents with a deep, dark scowl. Beside him was a growing pile of thick books and clothing and a mess of things Kindness couldn’t make sense of. It looked like he was making his own tower of things. Kindness thought it looked rather more like a stumped hill than a tower.

Though fascinated by the things he was unpacking, Diligence’s angry frown was enough to make sure Kindness stayed clear of him.

Humility had taken residence on the couch, after pushing trinkets and whatnot onto the messy table beside it and then onto the floor when the stuff on the table started lilting to the side, threatening to topple over. When everything was cleared, the oldest teenager stretched along the couch, which fit him perfectly, and unrolled a large yellowed newspaper. After settling in a bit more, he began to read it with an almost single-minded intensity. How Humility had managed to get a newspaper was a mystery to Kindness as he couldn’t see anything similar among the clutter of the room.

Kindness avoided him too and turned to look around once more.

He watched as Chastity cracked open the wooden windows with another loud groan. The sunlight gently lit up the Defense Professor’s face in a warm glow. He had placed his weathered book onto the windowsill.

From his place across the room, Kindness could still smell the wind, smell as it blew from outside with a gentle breeze. A salty tang that reminded him of fish. Kindness couldn't fathom how and imagined fish with pigeons wings flying through the skies. The image entranced him and now he  _ really _ wanted to know how air could smell like salt.

Kindness didn’t understand why but felt it was safe enough to approach Chastity.

He tiptoed discreetly to stand beside the Defense Professor and tried to peak over the window sill, about a head too short to even make it. Chastity scooped him up in his arms, ignored the tenseness of the too-thin, little body, and placed him on his hip like he had had with many, many other students from before.

“Look, Kindness,” he said. “Have you ever seen the ocean before?”

There were no flying fish but Kindness couldn't complain because...

He stared wide-eyed at the blue and _blue_ and ** _blue_**. Except for a few wisps of clouds, he could almost imagine he had been transported into the inside of a blue ball. “No.”

“What do you think?” Chastity asked, and waited for the answer.

Kindness said, very quietly like a secret, “It's very pretty.”

“It is, isn't it?”

The little boy nodded.

“It's also very dangerous though so don't try to swim in it or go near the shores unless you have an adult around,” Chastity said, laughing when Kindness vigorously nodded his head.

The Defense Professor let Kindness down when he started looking elsewhere.

“Go on, then,” he said when Kindness stared up at him in hesitation. “Have some fun and explore; chat with some of the others.”

Kindness didn’t know what ‘fun’ was but nodded anyway. “Okay.”

Chastity remained by the window, smiling softly at the large expanse of the ocean. Kindness watched as Chastity took his small, weathered book and pressed it against his chest, right where his heart would be. He looked away after that, feeling strange and like he had intruded upon a secret.

Kindness walked around the room, looking at each older person and wondering if he could approach any of them too.

Temperance had still not returned and Kindness was still put off by the thought of leaving the house.

Diligence was quiet now and holding onto something Kindness couldn’t quite see as the older boy hunched over it. He wasn’t scowling anymore but Kindness couldn’t say that his sad expression now was much better.

Humility rested against the arm of the couch and, while the newspaper hid his face, Kindness could guess he was sleeping from the deep breathing. 

And that left...

Kindness shyly shuffled next to Patience.

Patience, himself, stood before the shelves of books that took up the stretch of the circular wall. Kindness was surprised to see that all the bookshelves were still full even though the entire room was littered with as many books. Patience tapped a finger against his chin as he looked along the spines of the books. He was humming, saying things like “there haven't been too many new books since my time” and “I wonder how my government is”. He waved a crooked stick, waited for a moment and, after some unknown cue, started taking a few books off when everything returned okay.

When Patience continued to take books off, Kindness began to think he was being ignored and he was a nuisance when the man looked down at him.

“How old are you, little one?”

“Five, sir.”

“Such a wonderful age. So much to learn, to grow.” Patience hummed.

The books that Patience held floated up and started to hover beside him. Kindness gasped.

“How did you do that?” Kindness asked before he slapped a hand over his mouth.

“None of that,” Patience said, taking away Kindness’ hand and looking at the boy with bright, green eyes. “Only fools restrict the questions from a young mind. Not that there aren’t foolish questions but you’re perfectly allowed to ask even so.”

He nodded at Kindness and stared until Kindness understood.

“How did you move the book, sir?” he asked, hesitantly.

Patience patted his head. Kindness stiffened but something in his heart  _ curled _ at the sensation.

“You’re so young at the moment. I had almost forgotten that time when magic wasn't my world.”

Kindness frowned because he was sure that Aunt Petunia had always screamed at him when magic was brought up and Uncle Vernon would turn an even uglier purple.

“Magic?” he said cautiously.

Patience only nodded. “Yes,  _ magic _ . Have you ever done anything unusual?”

“Last week, I turned the teacher’s hair blue,” Kindness whispered but Patience only smiled down at him.

“Go on, child,” he said. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

Kindness thought for a moment and said, “I turned Aunt Petunia’s really bad haircut to normal. Oh! And there was this one time ...”

He had to pause his next words, they were stuck in his throat along with his heart.

Because Patience’s face had turned almost frightening.

The man flashed a sharp, pearly teeth fuelled grin. The temperature around them dropped and Kindness shivered. He quickly stopped breathing, scared that his breath would turn to mist as it left his mouth, and dread filled his stomach but before he could step back, Patience's lips returned to a pleasant curl.

It was almost like it was never there in the first place.

Kindness almost believed it was a trick of his imagination but knew, deep down inside, that he would never forget the almost manic gleam in the Patience’s eyes at the mention of Aunt Petunia's name.

Now, though, the man was kind. So, Kindness tried to forget the dread that had stuttered his heart.

“ _ That _ was magic,” Patience said, almost whispering now. “You’re a wizard belonging to a secret world of magic.”

His voice was silky sweet and soothing. Almost like honey, Kindness thought.

With a move Kindness was deeply shocked by because adults  _ didn’t _ do this (not for him), Patience crouched down so he was level with Kindness and locked their eyes together. “My dear boy, you will be a very strong and important figure. I promise you with all my power that you will  _ never _ have to go back to ... those  _ people _ .”

He stared at him with wide eyes and couldn’t look away as Patience stared back with a fierce expression. He wasn’t scared, anymore, of that sharp grin. Not if it promised not going back to the Dursleys.

“Really?” he asked, quietly, and his bottom lip trembled. “I don’t have to go back?”

“ _ Never _ ,” Patience promised.

Kindness didn’t hesitate and threw himself into the man. Wrapping his arms around him into the tightest hug he could. Patience hugged him back, almost unbearably warm.

-7-

“Do you know what has been happening since you’ve come here?” Patience asked, standing up.

Kindness chewed his lips and didn’t want to be dumb but asked, “Are you guys my family?”

“No,” Patience said and Kindness felt cold. “We're you.”

The coldness left and Kindness blinked back at him.

“Me?” Kindness parroted, furrowing his eyebrows. Was this some kind of joke? But he didn't want to think that someone who held his hand so softly and smiled at him was pranking him.

"You must be very confused, but yes," Patience said and Kindness was very much confused indeed.

Kindness didn't want to be a bother but all the same asked, "How?"

"Magic, most definitely, had a play in this matter. From what I understand, we are likely different versions of Harry Potter and had somehow been pulled together from different dimensions into this one. But the delicacy of the matter? I haven’t a clue why or how," Patience answered very honestly. “Although, one of the others may have ideas.”

“Maybe,” Kindness said, hesitantly, “we can ask one of them?”

Patience smiled at him, “A wonderful idea.”

No one had ever praised him before.

Kindness smiled back, even more hesitantly. It felt like the sun had moved to his chest, like something was melting his heart to small pieces. Kindness didn’t hate the sensation though. It felt amazing.

Patience hummed and Kindness refocused. “Later, though, when Charity comes back with the tea. For now…”

He extended his hand to Kindness who shyly took it and the man lead them off to the side, a trail of books floating behind them. Kindness kept turning to look behind him, at the display of magic, with his mouth agape and eyes wide.

Amazing!

More books dislodged itself from the wall of shelves and joined the trail. These ones were thinner with brighter colours.

Together, they sat down on a cosy armchair. The cosiness was entirely Patience as he settled Kindness besides him.

“This is a good read to introduce one to magic,” Chastity said, approaching them after having picked one of the more colourful books from the book train. “Although, it only got released a few years ago.”

"How fascinating," Patience said. "It was released over a decade ago in my world."

Patience waved his stick - his  _ wand! _ Kindness realised - and the armchair stretched enough for Chastity to sit next to them comfortably. Kindness felt even warmer, seated as he was between these two.

Chastity handed him the book and settled it on his small lap.

Kindness stared in amazement as Patience opened it up and images of fireworks and a large _ Welcome! _ sign floated above it much like a picture book.

But with  _ magic. _

Chastity started reading with a soft, practiced voice and Kindness could easily see him as a teacher now.

“ _ Welcome to the World of Witches and Wizards! _ ”

“This must be an older version,” Patience sniffed. “We had that remade to be more inclusive of all magicks.”

"That's a brilliant idea," Chastity said with a beaming grin towards the other who only nodded regally. The Defense Professor then frowned down at the book and took his wand to wave at it.

The words rewrote themselves. Chastity smiled in satisfaction while Patience looked down in approval. Kindness only felt awe.

“ _ Welcome to the World of Magic, _ " Chastity read.

But, once again, before he could continue, much to Kindness’ disappointment, Charity’s voice called out from the kitchen.

“Tea time!” he said.

Charity came back in then with a floating pot of tea, sugar bowl, creamer, a plate of cookies and seven teacups with their pretty saucers and equally little, delicate spoons. Everything looked very pretty with golden accents and a shimmer of red birds delicately twittering across each surface. Kindness quickly forgot his disappointment.

A worn chair from across the room shuffled over to sit in front of them and Charity seated himself in it, almost immediately engulfed in the plushness of the chair. A large, circular coffee table shook a small village of trinkets and books off itself before it bounded over. The displaced village migrated themselves into an open trunk which shut itself with a satisfying click.

With a nod from Charity, the tea set settled down onto the table with soft clinks.

Kindness leaned forward, gripping the edges of the book to make sure it didn’t topple over, and watched in fascination as the teapot poured tea into each of the cups without anyone raising a hand.

Charity tilted his head and six little sugar cubes shuffled out of their bowl. They morphed into six equally small sugar rabbits and hopped forward until they lined up next to Charity's cup. They almost seemed to wiggle and, with a  _ whoosh _ , they hopped into the cup with much aplomb. The teaspoon quickly swirled the tea and the sugar rabbits dissolved into it. Kindness looked inside and saw star constellations glittering in the form of a rabbit.

Kindness clapped.

“That was amazing!” he said to Charity with a great, big smile.

Charity’s eyes crinkled. "I'm glad you liked it."

“Milk?” Chastity asked him, already drinking his tea with deep sighs of satisfaction after every sip.

Kindness was unsure but nodded anyway. “Yes, please.”

The man waved his wand.

A teacup and the creamer came over to hover in front of him. The milk poured itself in, a teaspoon mixing it in as it did.

“Tell me when to stop,” Chastity said.

He didn’t really know when was enough because the Dursleys hardly ever allowed him tea and when they did they always gave it to him as leftovers from Dudley who had hated anything with water in it. So, Kindness shyly looked up at Patience and said, “Um.”

Patience looked down at him and snapped his fingers. The milk stopped. But before giving the teacup to him, Patience closed the magical picture book and placed it on the book tower closest to them.

“Try with this amount of milk,” the man said, “and then tell me if you’d like more.”

Kindness found that the mix was perfectly blended already. It wasn’t as deathly sweet as Dudley’s unfinished tea but, instead, light and creamy. He smiled at everyone. “Thank you.”

"Here," Chastity said and gave him a cookie.

He only realised then how hungry he was when he bit into it. He gobbled it up embarrassingly quickly and flushed to the tips of his ears when he saw the others look at him. To make matters worse, his stomach chose then to growl.  _ Loudly _ . Much like a wild beast.

Charity gestured towards the kitchen and Kindness feared for a moment he was being banished to cook for himself but out came tiny sandwiches, scones, and pastries flying to arrange itself onto the table where platters had magically appeared.

His mouth watered at the sight.

“It’s not much,” Charity said with his lips pulled down in sadness. “But have as much as you want. I’ll prepare dinner soon and then you can fill yourself up.”

Kindness hesitated. But Patience had already taken one of the sandwiches and given it to him.

"You're no longer with those people, dearest child. With reassurance, know that you eat as much as you can when hungry," Patience said and Kindness felt settled with that.

"Thanks," he said once again, feeling like today was his luckiest day. Everything felt almost like a dream and he was so scared to wake up.

Before he bit into the sandwich, though, Kindness heard Patience whisper, "No child shall go hungry like me."

It had been said with the softest of words and very obviously not meant to be heard. It was only because Kindness was sensitive trying to hear Aunt Petunia's words over Dudley's continual screaming that he had been able to catch Patience's spoken secrets. He felt guilty at once and focused once more on eating.

The sandwich was delicious. Soft, light and fluffy with wonderful cheese and ham. Kindness didn’t know if dreams could conjure up taste as well and dearly hoped not.

“This is amazing!” Kindness told Charity.

Charity grinned, eyes alight in soft glow. “That’s good. Haven’t cooked this much in a while. Typically, I make enough for myself and some of the outside wildlife.” He paused. “And some of the flora too, I suppose.”

Chastity  _ clink _ ed his teacup onto his saucer so sharply Kindness was surprised to find it still intact.

He immediately turned to Kindness with panicked eyes. “Please don’t go outside without one of us.”

Kindness thought of plants with giant mouths that could eat people and nodded very gravely, “Yes, sir.”

“Couldn’t find the cookies which was why I was taking so long, you see.” Charity rambled on, leg bouncing up and down, “I don’t like having them by myself and I’m pretty sure it’s not good for the snakes or any wildlife besides the ants and flies. And the last time I had guests over was, like, a decade, or three, ago.”

“You don’t look old,” Kindness said.

Charity stopped talking and Kindness knew he had said something very wrong.

Charity only smiled though, face as young as Humility with eyes older than anyone Kindness had ever known. "Yeah, I suppose I don't."

-7-

_ Thud _ .

Kindness startled at the noise but it was only Diligence who had plopped his heavy trunk next to Charity’s chair. The teenager then threw a flat pillow on top of the trunk to which he then proceeded to sit upon.

Kindness looked over and saw that the mess of stuff from Diligence’s trunk was completely gone. The teenager had packed up that small mountain of things surprisingly quickly.

“You do know I have plenty of chairs, right?” Charity said, though his lips quirked up at the antics of the other.

“Can’t see, don’t care,” Diligence replied which was a little rude but Kindness could understand as he looked around the messy home.

Everything could be a chair. If one dug deep enough.

Charity looked around too. “I guess I could clean up.”

Diligence looked taken aback. “What?” he said. “No, wait, don’t. Don’t do that on my account. This place is awesome the way it is. F- Screw the Dursley’s cleanliness and ‘presentabilities’.”

“That’s not a real word,” Patience said.

“It should be,” Diligence replied.

“It’s a pretty great word,” Chastity said to which Diligence grinned and Patience grimaced at the two of them when they high-fived.

“Well, maybe not to the level of ‘presentabilities’ that the Dursleys enforce,” Charity said. “But this place still needs a bit of a cleanup.”

Patience pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I’m actually outnumbered.”

Unlike the others, Diligence took the creamer with his hands and poured it himself. He then took four sugar cubes and dunked it in before he stirred it manually.

“What?” he asked with a frown when he noticed the stares. “Did I do something?”

“The Trace doesn’t work here,” Charity offered. “Most definitely because this isn’t even of your world but, even so, this little island of mine is certainly far beyond the boundaries of any government who could enforce a rule.”

Diligence blinked, the frown slipping from his face.

“Oh,” he said, taking out his wand and contemplating it as he spun it in his hands. A moment later, he lit a brilliant light after a murmured, “ _ Lumos _ .”

Kindness voiced his awe to which Diligence only smiled, the light casting a shadow across his eyes as he stared down at his wand.

“What’s a ‘Trace’?” Kindness asked. Asking questions got easier each time he did and he enjoyed the rush it filled him to be allowed this freedom.

Patience sipped from his cup, delicate and poised. “A barbarous practice used to restrict the practice of magic for those who grew up with Non-Magicks.”

The explanation flew over Kindness’ head and he must it have shown on his face for Patience understood immediately. The man coughed and said, “It’s a magic rule that didn’t let young ones like you and Diligence use magic wands outside of certain places.”

Kindness nodded in understanding. “Oh, okay.”

“Hopefully, no restriction shall befall you,” Patience said.

His eyes were infinitely soft and his hand was infinitely kinder as it brushed a strand of messy hair away from Kindness’ forehead, caressing the lightning bolt scar on his head as he did. Kindness felt it because it almost tickled with the most curious sensation. Maybe it was simply because no one had ever touched him there before.

He felt, again, the feeling of sunlight in his chest. And, although Patience was supposedly an older version of himself, Kindness couldn’t help but liken the touch to that of family.

“Nor, will it hold you back ever again,” Patience said to Diligence who stared back in surprise.

The teenager flushed and scratched his head. “T-Thanks, sir.”

Patience raised a single eyebrow. "You're welcome."

After that, Diligence quickly averted his eyes, finding the bottom of his teacup very interesting.

-7-

Temperance returned from outside with even more windswept hair and sweat running across his temple. He closed the door with another groan of rusty hinges.

“Tea?” Charity called over.

Temperance accepted with a nod. “Many thanks.”

He took a cup and flopped onto the floor much to Charity’s opened mouth shock.

“I have  _ chairs _ !” he said. Apparently, sitting on the floor was worse than sitting on a trunk.

“I rather like the ground,” Temperance said, sipping his tea.

Kindness couldn't help but laugh.

It felt like the first time in forever since he had laughed and it felt like sunlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was intended to be a oneshot btw.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is really fun and I love this series to bits.


End file.
